I had jaundice at 6mths old followed by chronic infections. By 2 years old in 1965 and after measles and mumps (no MMR in those days) I was (according to my father) put into St Elmo’s Private Hospital in Brunswick for a 3 day observation where I was tested for deafness and leukemia, noted as having no response to pain and on the basis of self injury, assessed as a ‘psychotic infant‘.

At age 9, now labeled on the school records as ‘a disturbed child‘, I was still being tested for deafness and still on regular antibiotics for chronic infections, my family and school finally understood I wasn’t deaf but meaning deaf, and gestures and representational objects with slowed speech became more widely used and I was left a typewriter. In 1973, aged 10, together with my younger brother who was 3, I was put on zinc, C and multi-vitamin/minerals. My receptive language went from 10% to 50% and I began to type word lists, then ‘poetry‘ and acquire ‘functional language’ (previously fitting Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder). By age 11 I could string relatively understandable sentences together (instead of songs, jingles, advertisments and TV scripts) and by 13 could do litanies.

In my teens the hospital went through three slides of blood to find a white cell and in early adulthood I learned I had two primary immune deficiencies, got treatment for gut, immune, metabolic disorders, nutrient deficiencies etc for several years. As an adult now diagnosed with autism (I learned from my father that it had been mentioned since I was 10 in 1973 but formal diagnosis was 1991) I had patterning, cranio-sacral therapy, tinted lenses for a visual perceptual disorder and hypnotherapy for chronic anxiety. Finally, a small amount of medication treated what was left of once crippling mood, anxiety, compulsive disorders and allowed me for the first time to come off expensive immune boosters and stay healthy ever since. Today my receptive language is about 70%, enough to converse, I have adapted to a degree of functional agnosia and face-blindness and stick with a diet (GF/CF, low salicylate, low phenol, low sugar), supplements (omega 3s, glutamine, C, zinc, chromium, selenium, calcium-magnesium, mega B, B12) and (minor) medication (atypical antipsychotic used as mood leveler) regime. I learn kinesthetically (hands on, physically with language demonstrated via gestures/actions), musically (rote and rhythm) and logically (systems) and struggle to learn visually or verbally. I have a happy, whole life. I’m still autistic, just not SO autistic. My personality too, is more autistic in style than many, and I have no desire to change that, on that level, I am who I am.
Not all people with autism have my physical, sensory-perceptual, language processing, neurological integration or co-morbid mood, anxiety or compulsive disorders. Most of these issues run on one or both sides of my family. I feel that what I inherited was the combined impact of the challenges of both my parent’s sides of the family and that under certain environmental conditions, these things expressed themselves in early infancy, causing the developmental breakdown that presented as a ‘psychotic infant’, disturbed child, autistic adult.

Autism is ONE word, but underneath it is many things. For SOME, including me, a large part of that is physiological, including the original sensory-perceptual and language processing deficits and part of the co-morbid disorders. But we need to distinguish this from personality trait collections which respond ‘autistically’ under chronic stress.

No one interest group should co-opt the term autism, even though it may be valid to talk about physiological autism versus autistic presentation or autistic response patterns. By such a distinction we can know where treatment is required and where acceptance, understanding, advocacy and adaptation are all that’s needed.

sympathetic. absolutely terrible with radio.diagnosis and all that, and no one to answer for it, even with words. personally not satisfied with the one-paragraph from volkmar. good luck with your foundation.

Found you while I was searching for Artist with Autism. I work at at program in Phoenix, Arizona where a large percentage of our students and clients are on the autism spectrum. ACCEL (Arizona Centers for Comprehensive Education and Life-Skills) is teaming up with Autism Speaks Arizona to put together an art show for artists on the spectrum. We are having a difficult time finding artists residing in Arizona.

Its funny and surprising how you learned to look beyond your imperfections and not only survived but also lived through it. I don’t sympathize you cause i believe if it weren’t for this autism you maybe would have never had writing as your “True Calling”. I have this assignment on you and i am thankful to google and my college, otherwise the lazy me would have never found you. You’ve inspired me Donna and for some crazy reason life seems meaningful. “You can walk through any dark path if you find your light within you.”

I agree with you, Exposure Anxiety was like a torture of involuntary avoidance, diversion, retaliation responses, so it was like being in an invisible cage through which you watch life and all it has to offer but when you try and engage with it you sabotage your efforts, so I became determined to defeat that and ultimately I did and part of that process was the need to write, paint, sculpt, to edge my way to freedom as the ‘prison warden’ of Exposure Anxiety gradually became acclimatised and stopped dominating me so ferociously. Of course this was not the whole of my autism, and many other parts of my autism required adaptations rather than conquest, and that was like being given the Himalayas to climb with no map, so I had to work out what the map was and made notes as I climbed those mountains about their nature and what it took to climb each, to navigate each aspect of my disabilities. And that too drove my writing. But not solely, I’m also exuberant by nature, and this is like a fire of welling creativity that demands to express itself. Had I not had this I think I would not have found so much outside of myself to reach out for.

Donna Williams is an Australian born adult with autism who was assessed as psychotic at the age of 2 in 1965, labelled disturbed in the 1970s and diagnosed as autistic in her 20s in 1991.

She acquired functional speech in late childhood and went on to become a qualified teacher with an honors degree in Sociology and a degree in Linguistics. She is the author of two international bestselling autobiographies and has 10 published books including 4 text books widely used in autism education and two books of poetry and prose.

As a screenwriter, she wrote the screenplay to “Nobody Nowhere“, the first book in her 4 book autobiographical series. That screenplay is currently under option to become a Hollywood film. She is an professional artist, singer-songwriter and published poet as well as a world renowned public speaker on autism now living with her husband in Australia. In her presentations she draws not only on her own experiences but on international experience as a professional autism consultant since 1996.

Donna’s is a speaker in demand around the world due to her unique perspective and ability to share her feelings and experiences on a very personal level. More information about her and her life’s work can be found on her website at http://www.donnawilliams.net .